End the unfairness of official bilingualism. Stop wasting our tax dollars.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Keith's Videos

Keith has chosen the very effective means of the video to fight the language battle. He is puzzled by Canadians accepting Quebec’s bad behaviour!!! All in the name of preventing the assimilation of French, they are attempting to intimidate large international companies into helping to save the French language by forcing them to do so!!! Unlike the small mom & pop stores, these big giants can fight back!!! Good for them!!!. Here is another video put together by Keith about Canada's ignorance of their own history.

Apparently, our media and even our politicians show an appalling ignorance of the fact that this country was not discovered or developed by the French in conjunction with the British.

The following list of historical events show us that the English-sponsored explorer (John Cabot) reached Canada’s shores long before the French-sponsored explorers and while French zealots don't appreciate Wolfe as the British General who won the Battle on the Plains of Abraham, his victory was what made Canada into an English-speaking domain. It was our politicians who misunderstood Pierre Trudeau’s agenda and who didn’t fight hard enough to prevent him from using his political will to divide this country along linguistic lines.

Keep the following list for reference anytime you are challenged by historical revisionists who try to tell you that Canada was founded by two peoples - conquered people don’t get to “found” a country!!!

A few historical facts about early Canada:

1497, May 2nd;

JOHN CABOT (born in Genoa 1450, moved to Bristol, England 1484) sailed westward under the aegis of England's King Henry VII in search of a westward route to Asia. Cabot and his crew of 18 on his ship Matthew found instead a new world, America. He named it (most likely the shores of cape Breton Island and southward along what is now the New England coast) New Found land, and formally claimed the land in the name of King Henry VII. Upon his return to England he received a pension from the King.

1498, May;

JOHN CABOT and his son SEBASTION sailed west again from England with five ships and 300 men, reached the eastern coast of Greenland, turned north, but his crews mutinied due to the extreme cold, and they turned southward. It is thought he may have reached the coastal area of Chesapeake Bay, but short of supplies, returned to England. John Cabot died in England in 1499.

1534;

JACQUES CARTIER explored the Gulf of St Lawrence, encountering fishing boats and visited harbours already named by Basque whalers, and joined in the fur trade with Micmac Indians at chaleur Bay.

1604;

SAMUEL de CHAMPLAIN explored the St. Lawrence River, finding the estuary teeming with fishing boats from numerous European countries, including Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia and Britain. It is certain knowledge that Vikings had been making regular visits since about 1000 A.D. Champlain and Francois Du Pont started a settlement at Ile Ste-Croix and Port Royal. Port Royal was abandoned in 1607.

1608;

Quebec colony was founded, Champlain returned to France in 1609, having promoted the French King's interests in North America, calling it New France, with Quebec its centre. Quebec remained only a trading post for decades after. Champlain and other French traders exploited the Indian wars of 1609-15.

1629;

Quebec (population about 100) fell to British Colonists from Delaware. Champlain was briefly taken prisoner by David Kirk.

King Louis 15th, wars between France and England, various parts of North America changed hands, back and forth, between France and England.

1758;

General Wolfe captured the French fort of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia and went on to defeat Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, Quebec.

1760;

Governor James Murray appointed Governor of the (now British) Quebec Colony.

1763;

The Treaty of Paris ceded once and for all, all of France's holdings in North America to Britain. (except the islands of St. Pierre and Michelon in the Gulf of St. Lawrence) NOTE: At no time was any part of New France a self-governing nation. It was merely a colony of France up to this point in time and became a colony of Great Britain, and the people of French origin in the colony were graciously permitted to keep their language, religion and civil law.

1774;

The Quebec Act was passed in the British Parliament allowing the French system of civil law to continue. It suggested the French in Quebec be allowed to participate in government. There is no reference to language in the Quebec Act.

1791;

The British Constitution Act divided the northern colonies into Upper and Lower Canada. Lower Canada was never a self-governing state.

1818;

The 49th parallel became the boundary between the American States and Canada.

1837;

GEORGE-ETIENNE CARTIER, Leader of the Bleu Party, led the fight for Confederation. He is quoted as having said "A French Canadian is an Englishman who speaks French."

1839;

The Durham Report recommended a union of Upper and Lower Canada.

1840;

The British Act of Union united Upper and Lower Canada. This Act declared the English language, and the language of the French Canadians could be used in Parliament when Upper and Lower Canada were united as one Province. While it recognized the use of the French language in the united Parliament, Canada of that time was not a '50-50 bilingual nation.' Nor was it ever the intention of the British Parliament, or the British people who lived in Canada, in spite of those in Quebec who declare it was.

1867;

The British North America Act united The British colonies of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

1868-1905;

Subsequent Acts (amendments) added the other six provinces and two Territories.

Anyone who wants to read a more detailed account of Canada’s history from its early days, please contact me.

I found an old article by Mark Steyn (a Canadian who now lives & works in the US) - he has a unique style of writing - humourous and to the point. Here he is, writing on Dominion Day which was changed by the Liberals to Canada Day

Steyn-on-line : July 1, 2004

Dominion Day - YOUNG IN PARTS

Happy Canada Day!! In the United States, they have Independence Day; in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day; in France, Bastille Day; in Serbia, Genocidal Whacko Appreciation Day. But here in Canada we need a Day to remind us that we’re in Canada.

We’ve had Canada Day for two decades now, and most Canadians will have no difficulty agreeing on which was the greatest Canada Day of all: July 1, 1989. It was 15 years ago today that Hugh Hefner, who’s always been partial to maple babes, wed Canuck Playmate Kimberley Conrad. Romance had sparked a few months earlier when Hef had come up to Conrad in the Playboy Mansion and said, “I looked at your data sheet, I think it’s wonderful.” If you’re a non-subscriber, the data sheet is on the reverse of the centre spread. It’s where Kimberley had listed her likes (blue jeans, midnight walks on the beach, G-strings) and dislikes (gossip, pretentious people).

Sadly, despite a wonderful data sheet, the landmark Canada Day marriage didn’t last. But then that too is quintessentially Canadian: Dominion Day didn’t last, the Red Ensign didn’t last, the Oath of Allegiance our new citizens will take today is good for maybe another half-decade … Last year, some professor proposed strengthening our heritage by renaming Victoria Day Heritage Day: we strengthen our heritage by obliterating it, by doing a Hef and turning it in for a younger model.

So, as every Canadian symbol is permanently up for grabs I’d like to propose - in honour of Kimberly, Shannon Tweed, Pamela Anderson and our other glorious centerfolds, changing Canada Day to Playmate Day. For what else is modern Canadian identity but a non-stop ongoing Playboy shoot? Once upon a time, we were a simple, wholesome farm girl, fresh-faced and freckle-cheeked. But then we were advised, if we really wanted to get on in the world, we ought to get some work done - a shot of collagen here, a little electrolysis there, and maybe change that clunky “Dominion” name to something a bit sexier.

We had flag surgery in 1965, an anthem augmentation job in 1980, and of course, in 1982, those fabulous double C-cup implants - the Constitution and Charter. Like Kimberley we had fallen under the spell of a wrinkly old swinger (Pierre Trudeau). “Sure, an 1867 BNA size is fine if you wanna do wet T-shirt contests in Thunder Bay for the rest of your life,” he said. “But the guys won’t be able to take their eyes off your low-cut plunging Charter.”

But somehow it didn’t work out quite like that. They’ve leaked everywhere, the Quebec nipple is pointing in a different direction from the ROC one and, no matter what you do to it, it’s impossible to arouse. Occasionally, like Pamela, we look in the mirror and wonder whether we shouldn’t just have ‘em taken out. But once you start with plastic surgery, it’s hard to stop. We’ve reached that stage now where, when we’re filling in the data sheet, we fudge the age question.

At the Jacques Cartier pier in Montreal a couple of Canada Days ago, I heard Lucienne Robillard address a group of new citizens: “Fifty years ago, we were British subjects,” she said. “We forget how young a country we really are.” Do we? Actually Lucienne Robillard seems to have forgotten how old a country we really are.

A few days earlier, the nation had marked the 500th anniversary of Cabot’s landing - half a millennium of history, centuries of constitutional evolution. But we persist in lying about our age. Like a professional virgin, we flutter our lids and tell Hef that sometimes we forget how young we really are. “And how young are you?”

"Oh, sixteen going on seventeen.”

“And how long has that been going on?” “Er, since 1497.”

Around the Cabot anniversary, my colleague Andrew Coyne wrote a paean to the mystique of our ancient kingdom. Excellent stuff - except that, in modern Canadian terms, Andrew sounds a bit of a nutcake. Ours is a present-tense culture: We have no use for the past, except to rewrite it: we declare Louis Riel a Father of Confederation, which is true in the sense that Sir John A. Macdonald was a trailblazing gay. Even those little lavishly funded “heritage minutes” they show on the CBC aren’t averse to peddling bunk. Take that one where Queen Victoria, on the eve of July 1, 1867, expresses herself amazed that her Governor-General will apparently be responsible to the Canadian Parliament.

Give me a break: insofar as they were responsible to anyone, they were the representatives of the British government for the first half-century of Confederation. There’s something a little totalitarian about this.

In Cambodia, Pol Pot ushered in Year Zero: history began with him. But, in fairness to the old mass murderer, he did not intend to halt history itself, to deny the passage of time, to establish a permanent Year Zero. That’s been left to Canada the local, easy-listening “Cambodia of the frozen north”. The symbols of our national identity are banal and evasive, beginning with the federally funded cardboard hats emblazoned “La fete du Canada, affichez votre sourire!” - a message from “Patrimoine Canadien” which, roughly translated, means “Smile! You’re in non-candid Canada!”

So we have one of the most recognizable flags in the world, but, unlike other recognizable flags, ours says nothing: It’s a logo. By contrast, Britain’s and America’s flags say: this is whence we came and who we are. The Maple Leaf, unlike the old Red Ensign ducks that question. Admittedly, the Red Ensign was a boring flag, but one of the signs of a nation secure in itself is the confidence to have a boring flag - like France. The best logo in the world won’t compensate for a wobbly product.

If only in that sense, Canada’s flag is an apt national symbol: the first of our great evasions, from which all others have followed. Sure, millions of people love it, just as millions of people love those Playmate centrefolds, air-brushed to perfection, dunked in a vat of industrial strength depilator, with every little awkward distinctive characteristic removed. What’s not to love? But isn’t it also a little bland, sterile, plastic?

Years ago they used to say: “What’s the difference between Dominion Day and Independence Day? About 48 hours.” Cute. But, if it was ever true, it isn’t now: Can you imagine Washington changing the Fourth of July to America Day? Federally funding the parades and fireworks? Distributing cardboard hats saying “Smile - it’s America Day!”? Saying “Hey, that old Uncle Sam guy’s gotta go. He’s not inclusive enough. And who wears tails with those striped pants these days?” Americans are novelty junkies when it comes to the Flavour of the Day at Starbuck’s (decaf-hazelnut-raspberry-Eurasian milfoil-latte), but not about what counts: flags, constitutions, anthems, Pledges of Allegiance.

We have, in the main, Pierre Trudeau to thank for this unconvincing makeover. In essence, he imposed his own image on the whole country: He was prime minister in his 50s and 60s, but determined to be the oldest swinger in town. Eventually, he moved on, as swingers always do, but he left us with the inane rictus grin of our medicare-funded face-lift. Pace Mme. Robillard, we are not a young country, but we are an immature one. Happy Playmate Day.